Cupping



LOYALL TILLOTSON, OF THOMPSON, OHIO.

CUPPING. i

Speccation of Letters Patent No. 15,626, dated August 26, 1856.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, LoYALL TILLoTsoN, of Thompson, in the county ofGeauga and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful apparatus foremploying electricity in connection with cupping for the purpose ofoperating on diseased parts of the human body; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making part of thisspecification, in which* Figure l is a perspective View of a cuppinginstrument with my apparatus attached thereto, showing the mode by whichthe electric force is conveyed, or made to operate, within the cup; Eig. 2 a vertical section through its center; and Figs. 3 and 4 exhibitthe adjustment of the spiral wire when the pole or plate is required tobe on or od the part to be operated on, as will be explained, theletters of reference thereon indicating similar parts in all thefigures.

The nature of my invention consists in employing the electric,electro-magnetic, voltaic, magneto, and thermo-electric forces, inconnection with cupping for the purpose of operating on diseased partsof the human body, the cup being used for the purpose of increasing orreducing the atmospheric pressure on the affected part-s. The action ofthe cup and that of the force is simultaneous, and is intended tomutually aid each other, as hereinafter explained. This l accomplish byattaching to the cup of a cupping instrument the apparat-us presentlydescribed, consisting of a metal wire placed within it, to the end ofwhich is fastened a metallic plate or disk (to be used as the positiveor negative pole as the case requires) the other end passing through ahermetically sealed aperture and terminating in a loop on the outsidethereof, the said loop being for the purpose of attaching the connectingwire of the battery. The said wire is coiled, for the purpose ofallowing il. to be extended or contracted, so that the pole or plate canbe placed on, or over, the diseased part, consistent with the kind offorce employed, as will be explained.

To enable the medical faculty and others to use my said invention itwill be necessary to describe, first, the construction of a cuppinginstrument suitable for applying it, and secondly the parts constitutingmy apparatus by which the electric force is coni veyed within the cup.

First, the cupping nstrument.-A, B, Fig. l, is the body of the cuppinginstrument, which is made hollow and consists of two parts. The lowerpart B is closed with a fiexible or elastic covering O, Fig'. 2, whichis securely fastened over its upper portion, so as to be air tight. Thiscovering may be made in any convenient form, either by stretching itacross the diameter, similar to a drum-head, or hemispherically asshown.

D is a plunger with its broad end in Vcontact with the covering O. Thesaid plunger passes through a guide hole at the top of the upper part ofthe body A, and has a button, E, secured in its top.

F is the cup which is made removable, so as to admit other cups ofdifferent sizes or shapes to be used.

Sccomllz, #Le parte constz'tut'z'ag my appamus--G is a metallic wire towhich is soldered a disk of metal H. The said wire is coiled and the endpassed through a hole in the body of the cup of the cupping instrumentand terminating in a small loop I on the outside, the said hole is to beclosed hermetically.

In putting the above described apparatus and cupping instrument intooperation two things are to be considered-First, whether the nature ofthe disease requires the plate or pole to be in contact with the part,or not; second, if the atmospheric pressure within the cup must bereduced, or increased (as hereinafter explained.) In the former case theextension of the spiral wire will allow the plate to rest on the part.`Oontracting it will have the contrary elfect. In the latter case thedepression of the plunger before the cup is applied will reduce theatmospheric pressure on the part; depressing it after will increase it.After these preliminaries are determined on the wire from the battery isto be attached to the loop outside the cup, which of course conveys theelectricity to or from the part operated on.

I will now explain the mode of procedure in a few cases in which Icontemplate using the above described invention, in doing which it willbe necessary to describe the influence of dry cupping, also theproperties and iniuence of the electrical forces, and also in whatcasesthe positive or the negative force of the battery is required.

1st. The effect of dry cupping, as it is usually termed, is to removethe atmospheric pressure which causes an expansion of the muscularfibers when shrinking and are pressing on the sensor nerves, oftencausing the most acute pain. It also expands the vascular and capillaryvessels, causing them to fill with their appropriate fiuids, whichrestores vitality and motion. 2nd. When either of the electric ormagnetic forces, or currents, traverses the fluids of living beings, iteffects the decomposition of the salts Within them, acids being evolvedat the positive pole, and alkalis at the negative pole. Albumencoagulates at the positive pole, Where oxygen and acid are set free;hydrogen appears at the negative pole with an alkaline liquid.Consequently one force must and does exert an expansive infiuence, Whilethe other exert-s a contracting influence. 3rd. As there are certainlimits to these forces beyond Which they cannot go, and consequentlywill fail of the desired effects, and as an adjuvant to these forces inremoving, for instance, the atrophy of a muscle, I place the cup overthe atrophied part and remove the atmospheric pressure, Which has theeffect to expand the muscles and vascular vessels, as above described,While at the same time is conveyed, by means of the disk in the cup, oneof the .expansive forces of electricity as evolved by the battery, whichwhen combined with the cup produces the most satisfactory results, Whichcould not be produced by either When used separately. In a case ofhypertro-phy or tuberculation the cup, of a proper size and form, isplaced over the part affected, and by forcing the plunger into the cupthe atmospheric pressure is increased, the effect of Which is similar tothat of a compress, at the same time is conveyed by means of the spiralWire and disk the positive or contracting force, which force and the cupbeing used together, as above stated, produce instantaneous and happyeffects on crooked limbs, spinal curvatures, and similar diseases.

In using statical electricity on excoriated surfaces, attended withextreme sensibility and pain, the patient is to be placed on an,

l, isolated stool or bed, the patient being connected With the primeconductor of an electric battery, the disk in the cup is depressed so asnot to touch the surface of the part and the cup placed over it, after aWire has been attached to the loop on the outside of the cup andextending to the floor. A small portion of the atmospheric pressure isthen to be removed by the cup, and the patient being charged Withelectricity it fiows ofi the diseased surface in jets or sparks on thedisk or plate in the cup, and is conveyed to the earth by means of theWire attached to the outside of the cup, as before explained, relievingin the most prompt and effective manner the extreme sensibility,inflammation, and pain, producing, at the same time, a dispositionrapidly to heal. In ticdouloureaux, the positive force is applied to theplexus of nerves infront of the ear, and the other communicated to theseat of pain in the face, with the pressure removed as above by theAcup. To remove tumors and boils a plate is provided and placed over eachcervical vertebra and the positive pole connected with the plate, andthe negative to the disk in the cup, with the atmospheric pressurereduced by said cup placed over the said boil or tumor. For the purposeof resuscitating dormant irritability of nerves, or contractibility oftheir subordinate muscles, the positive pole must be applied to theformer, and the negative to the latter. In the opposite condition of thenerves and `muscles the negative pole must be applied tothe former, andthe positive tc the latter.

When voltaic, galvanic, or any current electricity is used the plate inthe cups must rest on the surface of the diseased part under the cup;and When statical electricity is employed the plate in the cup should bedepressed and not touch the surface, as above described.

It will be seen from the above description in What manner the cup maybemade t0 aid the electrical forces, bot-h positive and negative, also theWay in Which the positive and negative forces may aid the action of thecup, in the combined action of both in their' application to diseasedparts of the human body, producing such results as neither one nor theother could produce when used separately.

Having thus explained the nature, construction, and operation of myinvention, I Wish distinctly to be understood as not claiming the use ofa cupping instrument, nor the employment of electricity, for thereduction of disease in the human body, separately considered, the useof both, singly, having been long knovvn to the medical profession, but

What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The Within described apparatus, viz: the spiral Wire Gr, disk I-I, andloop I, combined and attached to a cupping instrument, for the purposeof employing electricity in conjunction With cupping as an adjuvant fordiseased parts of the human body, as set.

forth.

LOYALL TILLOTSON. lVitnesses J. F. SINGLE, H. STEELE, Jr.

